15 Major Decisions This Year From a Partisan Supreme Court

Kristin Hughs, right, announces to supporters the Supreme Court's decision on the Hobby Lobby case in Washington, Monday, June 30, 2014. The Supreme Court says corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.

Since Monday's dramatic Supreme Court decisions, I've seen a few people recall that back in 2000, a lot of liberals justified voting for Ralph Nader (or not voting at all) on the basis that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Bush appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the high court, and it's safe to say that Gore's nominees would have been somewhat different, so it's unlikely we'll be hearing that argument again. Wherever you place your priorities in terms of the actions of the executive branch, at this point in history, the nominating of Supreme Court justices has become extremely partisan, in a way that isn't necessarily bad.

What I mean is that whatever the preferences of a particular president, his or her nominee will have to fit within a predictable mold set by the president's party. For Republicans, that probably means someone who served in a previous Republican president's Justice Department (as both Roberts and Alito did in Reagan's), is a member of the Federalist Society, may have done some corporate work on the side, and spent a few years issuing safely conservative rulings on an appellate court. For Democrats, it probably means someone who is an academic (like Elena Kagan), or if not, someone whose record on the bench gives a clear indication of their leanings (like Sonia Sotomayor)—and is more likely to be a woman or a member of a racial or ethnic minority.

As George W. Bush found out when he tried to nominate his good buddy Harriet Miers, the president's party won't tolerate someone without a clear record—they want to be sure that they'll get exactly what they expect from a justice. That means that there will be no surprises for anybody (not that people can't be fooled a little bit; with a friendly smile, a soothing voice, and some patently disingenuous baseball metaphors, John Roberts convinced a lot of Democrats he might be something other than the intensely ideological justice he has been).

As I said, this isn't necessarily bad; a justice like David Souter who surprises everyone is only pleasing if the surprise works to your side's benefit. But now that the Supreme Court's term has ended in dramatic fashion, it's worth taking a moment to look back on what they did over the past year, in case anyone is harboring any lingering doubts about the importance of the Court. Here are some of the major decisions, and a quick glance at them shows just how much impact the Supreme Court has on all of our lives:

McCutcheon v. FEC: The law limiting the total amount a donor can give to multiple political candidates was struck down.

These are just some of the 74 opinions the Court delivered during this term. They range over a broad swath of commercial, political, and personal activity. And while there were a few cases where the Court was unanimous, as a general rule the more important a case is, the more likely there is to be a partisan division whose outcome is determined by who appointed the current nine justices.

Three of the current justices (Scalia, Kennedy, and Breyer) are in their 70s, and one (Ginsberg) is in her 80s. The next president, particularly if he or she serves two terms, is probably going to have the opportunity to reshape the Court for decades to come. Just something to think about.

Of the 15 you cite, 6 (NLRB v Canning, Utility Air, Wood v Moss, Riley, Lane v Franks, and McCullen) are 9-zip, although Utility Air may be a bit too much of a mess to qualify as truly 9-zip but it goes down as such. Two more, EPA v EME & ABC v Aereo, are six justice majorities. I'm not so sure you fully make your case here. Should Ginsburg retire, I see either Obama or Clinton nominating a centrist, corporate-friendly justice like a Breyer or a Souter, but not another ACLU attorney like Ginsburg.

About the Author

Paul Waldman is the Prospect's daily blogger and senior writer. He also blogs for the Plum Line at the Washington Post, and is the author of Being Right is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative Success.